More than 150 firefighters face fire in hardware store: “It’s chaos”

The fire chief indicated that once the extinguishing phase is concluded, debris removal will begin, followed by the investigation to determine the cause of the fire.

Santo Domingo — More than 150 firefighters and 15 emergency units were deployed this Friday to fight a large fire at the San Miguel hardware store on Independencia Avenue in the National District.

The causes of the fire are unknown at the moment.

The chief of the National District Fire Department, José Luis Frómeta Herasme, explained that the fire was reported around 5:20 in the afternoon and that, since then, the units have been working hastily on the three levels of the establishment.

According to him, the most significant difficulty has been the large amount of flammable material stored at the hardware store, such as paints, wood, and other combustible products, which has led to a rapid spread of the fire.

Firefighters maintain four points of attack to control the fire: the front, both sides, and the rear area of the building, where the most flammable material is located.

Frómeta Herasme assured that the fire remains confined and that, although the firefight has lasted several hours, no human casualties have been reported.

He indicated that upon arrival, it was confirmed that all the people had left the structure.

At 8:00 p.m., more firefighter units continued to arrive to reinforce the work.

Dozens of curious people gathered around, recording and photographing the fire, while dense black smoke continued to billow from the three-story hardware store until after 8:15 p.m.

Miguelina Saviñón, one of the people affected by the proximity of the fire and owner of a neighboring business, said that she learned about the situation through a call and social networks.

“We were in Baní, on a family outing, and they called us. Through the networks, we could see that all this was chaos,” he said.

The fire chief indicated that once the extinguishing phase is concluded, debris removal will begin, followed by the investigation to determine the cause of the fire.

Brigades from the National District, Santo Domingo East, Santo Domingo West, and Haina participate in the work.

While working to put out the fire, firefighters helped three kittens rescued from inside the hardware store.

The little animals showed signs of suffocation due to smoke inhalation, so the firefighters provided them with oxygen to stabilize them.